42-year-old anime technical director Masaki Kitamura was
charged on Friday with interfering with a public official's duties after being
arrested in August for allegedly writing "I will commit a massacre"
on the city's website. According to the police, the suspect denied the charges,
saying, "I'm completely innocent."

The suspect is accused of going to Osaka's inquiry page
on the Internet and writing, "I will commit a massacre in Otaroad [in
Osaka's Nipponbashi area] next Sunday. I will ram into pedestrian paradise, and
after stabbing indiscriminately with a knife, I will commit suicide" on
July 29 at about 9:45 p.m. "Pedestrian paradise" is the traditional
practice of cordoning vehicles off a particular street or streets and limiting
the area to foot traffic. Nipponbashi's Otaroad is essentially Osaka's otaku
shopping counterpart to Tokyo's Akihabara.

Kitamura was an assistant director on both seasons of
Mobile Suit Gundam 00. He was also a director of the 10th installment of Gundam
Evolve and an episode director on Ergo Proxy, GUNxSWORD, Intrigue in the
Bakumatsu - Irohanihoheto, Planetes, Wolf's Rain, and other series.